The Trial Contest
Hilda was walking through the northern half of the city in search of something to pass the time, there were still a few arcades around but she was never a huge gamer like her brother. She debated checking out a restaurant to try out some food that the other group members wouldn't go to such as a fancy establishment in Ash's case or seafood in her brother's case but both restaurants were full of happy couples seated together that immediately caused her unease. She waved it off as she wasn't that hungry anyway, she continued on towards the former Music Hall where a large crowd could be seen.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! It's Wallace!" A bunch of girls around her age range could be seen squealing from excitement as they gazed towards the Music Hall.
"Who the heck is Wallace?" Hilda questioned. A collective gasp sounded out as the girls turned to face Hilda.
"How do you not know who Wallace is?!"
"He's the Hoenn Champion and an absolute dreamboat!"
"Not to mention a Top Coordinator!"
Hilda squinted as she made out what appeared to be a man in his late twenties that wore quite the flamboyant outfit. She shrugged as she didn't understand what the big fuss was about.
"Actually he's the former Champion, Steven beat him at the end of the last Hoenn League season." Hilda turned to see a beautiful girl standing behind her, she bore a significant resemblance to Wallace as she had long turquoise colored hair that was tied into a ponytail. Her turquoise eyes matched her hair and her scarf, arm and leg bracelets resembled large fluffy clouds. She wore quite the flashy blue outfit and skirt with bright blue shoes that matched with the rest of her outfit. "The two have been doing this for years. One wins and the other takes the title in the next season."
Hoenn wasn't like most regions which often had a single Champion for a long stretch of time, which led to speculation that Steven and Wallace were simply putting up a show for each other as neither could summon the courage to tell the other how they really felt about each other. Lisia knew those rumors had some truth to them as she'd accidentally found a shrine in her uncle's place when she was younger, she'd kept her mouth shut about it and Wallace never found out.
"Oh my gosh, it's Lisia!" The girls squealed out.
"Can I have your autograph?!"
"Maybe later, I've got to get going. We're starting things up soon," Lisia spoke while thumbing towards the Music Hall.
"What's going on?" Hilda questioned.
Lisia turned to Hilda and squinted lightly. She looked familiar but she couldn't place it. "My uncle's hosting Unova's very first Pokémon Contest, it's not an 'official' one mind you. The winner isn't getting a head start for when the proper Unova season begins, we're simply testing the waters here and utilizing both mine and his pull to get as many eyes as possible to gauge interest."
"Are entries still open?"
"Of course, are you wanting to enter?" Lisia questioned with a slight tilt of her head. "We're not requiring a Contest Pass since you can't register for those here at the moment so you're welcome to compete if you want."
"Sure, it sounds like it might be fun!" Hilda beamed.
"Eevoi!"
Lisia clasped her hands together. "Great then follow me inside!"
Zach and Skyla were at the Nimbasa Fairground which wasn't that populated as it was rather hot outside, both of them were able to take the heat though as planes grew quite hot while sitting idle while the knight armor didn't exactly have air conditioning. Skyla's arm was locked around his, her head resting against his shoulder as they walked through the fairground. Lucario was on alert, keeping an eye out for trouble. A few of the vendors gave off iffy aura but that was pretty standard as they were either ex cons or Rocket members that got stranded after the mass exodus.
"Hey bud!" A shifty looking vendor called out to them.
Zach cast a quick look around before pointing at himself with his free hand. "Who me?"
"Yes you!" The shifty vendor excitedly spoke while pointing at a tank full of Magikarp, they weren't just any Magikarp though as they were all a variety of colors such as silver, light blue with blue speckles, pink and purple. Zach immediately narrowed his eyes while giving off a suspecting look as the salesmen continued. "These are all Magikarp from the Alola, Galar, Paldea and Kitakami regions. They're quite valuable and the eggs are worth a fortune but I'm willing to let them go cheap as they reproduce way too quickly, the eggs sell for ten thousand a piece but I'm willing to let them go for five hundred a piece!"
"What kind of scam are you pulling? Magikarp don't have any known regional forms."
"This isn't a scam, I assure you! You look like someone whose never left Unova, how would you even know that?"
"Because I did some research on what region I wanted to travel to next, Magikarp are found in most of them and they all look exactly like the ones we can find here." Zach explained. "You're just trying to pull a fast run on idiots and inexperienced trainers."
The Magikarp salesman began to sweat as a bit of a crowd was forming around the area. The salesman then went pale upon realizing he looked familiar. "Wait a second... you're that guy that!" He facepalmed upon realizing he tried scamming somebody who'd won the Unova League. The Magikarp Salesman quickly returned the Magikarp and shoved the Pokeballs into his rucksack before taking off for the hills, knowing he wasn't going to scam anyone around here now.
"I fell for a scam?! No way!" A younger trainer pulled at his headband, making it smack against his forehead as he groaned out of frustration.
"Rio!"
"Poor kid." Zach muttered while watching the boy and Riolu run off.
"He'll get over it, let's go play some games!" Skyla excitedly dragged him away from the crowd, taking him towards some game booths. Lucario shook his head at a few, signaling they were rigged. Eventually they arrived at a typical target shooting booth that had multiple Pokémon plushies hanging on the prize rack. Zach shot a quick look to Lucario who nodded.
"One round please." Zach dropped a Pokedollar on the counter as he spoke. The vendor nodded and pocketed the money while handing him a water pistol. Zach eyed the targets and took a deep breath as he locked his eyes on each individual one before slowly shooting each one. Skyla blinked from surprise before figuring he was a good shoot because of his sword, she'd yet to see it but she knew he could apparently shoot lightning out of it.
The vendor's jaw dropped as he stared at the downed targets before shrugging his shoulder. "Go on ahead."
Zach eyed the prize rack for a moment before picking out a white and orange rabbit plush, thinking it the cutest of the lot and in the absence of Flying type plush that would have to do. "Here you go!"
Skyla squealed as she held the plush close to her chest. "Thanks honey!"
"What a cute and lovely young couple, care to have your fortunes told?" The two turned to see an older woman with a dark skin tone, her long purple hair was tied upwards in an unusual fashion similar to a loop. A bright starry cape was draped over her long black dress and she spoke with a rather thick Kalos accent.
"Sounds fun, let's do it!" Skyla excitedly pulled at Zach's arm.
"Fortunes? At a carnival? This has to be another sham." Zach muttered while casting a look at Lucario who simply shrugged in response. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."
The Kalos native led the two into her tent and sat at the far end of the table before hovering her hands over a crystal ball. "Let's see..."
Skyla cast her boyfriend a reassuring smile as they took their seats, Zach forced a smile but was still uncertain about this.
"Ladies first," The Kalos native spoke while closing her eyes. "Let's see... there will be a great physical struggle in your future but you'll overcome it and persevere with a bright future waiting ahead afterwards."
"Neat!" Skyla gave Zach's hand a tight squeeze. "Do you know how many kids we have?"
The woman was silent as she turned to Zach. "And now for the young man, let's see... oh no. Oh no!"
"What?!" Skyla asked while Zach simply scoffed and shook his head.
"I'm so sorry," The Kalos woman bowed to him. "I only see death waiting for you."
Skyla instantly narrowed her eyes. "You were right, this is a scam." She quickly stood up to leave while Zach was momentarily stunned. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Skyla noticed he was silent on the way out so she put a hand against his cheek while offering him an assuring smile. "Don't worry, what she said was a load of bogus. Nothing's going to happen to you as long as I'm around, they'll have to deal with me if they want to get to you! Besides if she really saw the future, she'd have told me that we had at least three kids."
Zach smirked lightly as he looked at her. "You really want that many?"
"Oh yeah, we can afford it once you're a champion." Skyla giggled out before planting a kiss on his lips. "Now how about we go ride some rides and get all this nonsense off our minds?"
"Welcome everyone to Unova's very first Pokémon Contest!" Wallace excitedly exclaimed. The crowd roared out while several fangirls squealed out.
"We love you, Wallace!"
"My uncle and I are going to show you all how things work then a few lucky contestants will get to come up and test their luck against me or Wallace!" Lisia exclaimed. The fangirls excitedly squealed out once more. "But only those who are actually interested can try their luck, Wallace isn't here to get engaged." Lisia winked at the audience while Wallace scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Now for the performance stage," Wallace tossed a Pokeball into the air which burst open to reveal a beautiful serpentine Pokémon. Hilda gasped at the sight while wondering where she could get one for herself.
"Milotic the Tender Pokémon, Milotic has provided inspiration to many artists. It has even been referred to as the most beautiful Pokémon of all."
"It definitely is." Hilda nodded while Eevee cast a jealous look to Milotic.
"Eevoi..."
"You can utilize a singular move if you'd prefer but if you want to create a more spectacular show, it's advised to combine attacks like so." Wallace explained while raising a hand to the air. "Milotic use Hydro Pump!"
"Miloooo!" Milotic cried while firing a large geyser into the air.
"Now follow up with Ice Beam!"
"Milooooo!" Milotic shot off a beam of ice, freezing the geyser solid before it fell and shattered against the floor. Multiple ice particles flew through the air as the crowd gasped from amazement.
"And the top eight scores will advance to the Battle Stage where unlike most standard battles, you'll want to make sure your Pokémon favor beauty over power. If you want to get knock out your opponent, that's fine but it won't get you many fans and will only take you so far." Lisia explained while tossing a ball into the air. "Altaria, time to put on a show!"
"Altaria!" Hilda noticed that the beautiful dragon's cloud matched Lisia's scarf and bracelets.
"It's beautiful!"
"Altaria the Humming Pokémon, it looks like a fluffy cloud when it is in flight. It hums with its soprano voice."
"Aqua Ring!" Wallace shouted out.
"Miloooo!" A large aquatic ring formed around Milotic's body.
"Moonblast!" A pink energy sphere formed within Altaria's mouth before flying towards her opponent, exploding against her and knocking her back.
"Milooo!" Milotic grunted out.
"Draining Kiss!" Wallace shouted out.
"Miloooo!" Milotic swiftly lunged across the field before planting her lips against Altaria's cheeks, draining Altaria's energy.
"Alta..."
"Dragon Breath!" Lisia shouted out.
Blue-green fire emitted from Altaria's mouth and shot off across the stage, blasting Milotic.
"Miloooo!" Milotic screeched out as the fire scorched across her body.
"Aqua Tail!" An aquatic veil formed around Milotic's tail as she crashed it down upon Altaria's head.
"Altaria!" Altaria screeched out while a red X flared up on the stage's screen.
"And just like that, Lisia's out of points!" Wallace exclaimed. "In an actual scenario, she'd be out while I either advance to the next round or win the ribbon depending which round it is."
Lisia nodded. "And now those that want to compete may step forward so we can properly register you, I'll be competing as well to give you a proper feel of what to expect when Contest seasons start as you will be facing experienced Coordinators who travel here in the hopes of winning the Grand Festival. The winner will earn a special ribbon, which isn't official just decoration, and the chance to battle Wallace!"
"Bet Ash wishes he was here right now." Hilda smirked to herself while stepping forward. Lisia smiled and gave her a nod of acknowledgement as Hilda registered for the competition before Lisia and Wallace guided her and the other competitors backstage and as luck would have it, Hilda was the first one called upon.
The brunette grabbed hold of a Pokeball as she took the stage.
"Mismagius!" She shouted out while tossing a Pokeball into the air.
"Mismagius!" The Ghost cried out as she burst out on the stage.
"Use Magical Leaf then follow up with Mystical Fire!" Hilda shouted out.
"Mismagius!" Mismagius cried out as multiple razor sharp leaves shot out in front of her. A orange beam of fire erupted from her mouth shortly afterwards, lighting the leaves ablaze as they flew high above the stage.
Wallace gave a nod as he held up a sign that had the number nine on it. Hilda smiled and took a bow as the crowd roared out for her.
"Oh yeah, that was amazing!" Skyla squealed out as the couple got off the Rotomcoaster.
"It was quite exhilarating." Zach breathed out while offering her a smile.
"I'm glad you're enjoying this," Skyla beamed, planting a quick affectionate kiss upon his lips. "How about we ride the ferris wheel? It'll be nice, private and romantic. I reckon we'll be able to see the entire city light up from up there."
"Sure!" The two walked hand in hand towards the Ferris wheel, Lucario firmly planted his feet upon the ground as they reached the front of the line allowing the two to enter alone. He was patient enough to wait for them to loop around.
Skyla and Zach sat across from each other, staring into each other's eyes as the wheel began spinning. "Zach, I know you just reunited with your sister but I think you should come back to Mistralton with me and settle down for a brief while. You need time to relax and I'd love to introduce you to my familia." She spoke while placing her hands atop of his.
"I forgot we never met," Zach spoke while wrapping his fingers around hers. "I'd love to meet them." He knew she had a point and besides that, Team Plasma didn't have the proper resources to scale a city to get to him. As long as he was with Hilda, he was potentially putting her at risk if Ghetsis decided to try and capture him again. He couldn't live with himself if something happened to the only family he had left. "Besides only fair they meet the guy their daughter is leaving Unova behind for, right?"
"Right." Skyla giggled out before uttering out a light gasp as the ferris wheel suddenly stopped in place. Zach instinctively reached for his sword before Skyla grabbed his arm. "Relax, it's just a blackout." She stretched her arm out towards the city which was now completely pitch black. "I doubt they even know you're here."
"You're probably right." Zach sighed out. "So how long do you think it'll be?"
"The official estimate is an hour," Skyla spoke while eyeing her Rotom Phone, a sly smirk crossed her face as she cast him a look. "You know, we're at the very top. Nobody can see or hear us, how about we calm you down by having some fun?"
Zach jumped lightly in his seat before smirking as he nodded in response. "Sure." Skyla emitted a squeal as she leaped across the cabin, tackling him down to the floor.
"That was a very great Performance show everyone, you all deserve a round of applause!" Wallace enthusiastically clapped his hands while turning his attention towards the screen above which showcased Hilda and Lisia's images along with six other trainers that Hilda never met before. The images then flipped around and rotated around the screen before pairing Hilda up with Lisia right off the bat.
Lisia cast Hilda a friendly smile which Hilda returned as Wallace called the pair to the stage.
"You two may commence with the Battle Stage!" Wallace took a bow while the screen adjusted to showcase Hilda and Lisia's images along with two green circles beneath them.
"Let's go, Eevee!" Hilda shouted out while pointing towards the stage.
"Eevoi!" Eevee cried out as she leaped onto the stage.
"Altaria!" Lisia shouted, hurling her Pokeball into the air.
"Altaria!" Altaria screeched out as she burst onto the stage.
"Shadow Ball!" Hilda shouted out.
"Eevoi!" Eevee cried out while firing off a ball of ghastly purple energy towards Altaria.
"Moonblast!" Lisia shouted out.
"Altariiii!" Altaria screeched while firing a pink energy orb towards the incoming attack causing it to explode in a mixture of pink and purple particles. Lisia lost a small fraction while Hilda lost about a fourth of her points.
"Sky Attack!"
"Altaria!" Altaria swept up into the air and took aim at her opponent as a blue aura surrounded her body. Altaria uttered out a screech as she dove downwards before crashing into Eevee, sending her flying through the air.
"Eevoi!" Eevee cried out before grunting out as she crashed against the floor. "Eevoi..." Hilda lost another fourth of her points.
"Baby-Doll Eyes!" Hilda shouted out.
"Eevoi!" Eevee's eyes turned watery as she gave her opponent a sad and pathetic look that made Altaria freeze in place with an uncomfortable expression.
"Altaria..." She groaned while Lisia lost roughly a fourth of her remaining points.
"Dragon Breath!" Lisia shouted out.
"Altariiii!" Altaria screeched out while firing off a stream of blue-green fire. The flames scorched across Eevee causing her to cry out before ultimately collapsing onto her side from exhaustion as she couldn't take any more hits from Altaria. Large red X's formed upon the screen above, displaying Lisia as the winner of the match as the crowd cheered.
Hilda scooped Eevee up and offered Lisia a smile before heading out of the Music Hall to get Eevee healed up. The power suddenly shut off as she ran through the streets but fortunately the moonlight offered enough light to safely reach the Pokémon Center. Although the power was off, Eevee's injuries were easily able to be taken care of with Chansey's Life Dew attack and a potion. Hilda decided to wait out the blackout in the Pokémon Center's lobby since it was the safest place for it and it was also where she'd meet up with her friends later on.
The power came back on over a hour and a half later and the automatic doors slid shut before opening back up as somebody arrived. Hilda looked up expecting to see her friends or brother arrive but instead it was Lisia. "There you are, you left so suddenly. Just for future reference, Contest Halls typically have machines that can heal your Pokémon between rounds." She reached into her bag and held out a box to Hilda. "You were quite good for a beginner, almost as if you have a natural talent for this. Have you considered becoming a Coordinator?"
"I-I don't know," Hilda nervously spoke while glancing towards her feet. She'd never known what to do with her life, truth be told if her brother hadn't disappeared she'd likely have taken a civilian role as Pokémon never really interested her before but that changed after meeting Eevee. Battling wasn't something she was invested in but Pokémon Contests were different and fun. "I don't think I'd be interested in traveling through Unova again, I'd rather see more of the world."
"Well that's okay, Pokémon Contests are all over the world!" Lisia exclaimed. "We've got them in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and soon Unova. We're still working on Kalos and Galar but my uncle and I are headed for Kalos tomorrow to talk with Diantha and see if she can use her pull to get things properly organized for that."
"Kalos?" Hilda breathed out. There were a few occasions where she considered asking her brother if she could go to Hoenn with him after Team Plasma with dealt with but him and Skyla were extremely close so she didn't want to feel like a third wheel. She began racking her brain as she remembered where she heard of that region before, before recalling Lumiose City was located there. The 'city of love', Hilda smiled lightly at the thought. She did want a boyfriend when she was emotionally ready and that felt like the perfect place to find one. "Maybe I'll head for Kalos after we deal with things here."
Lisia smiled while tapping the box. "Well then, I think you'll want a look at what's inside!"
Hilda took hold of the box and uttered out a gasp upon seeing the contents, inside was what appeared to be an orange version of Lisia's outfit. "I-I can't accept this, it's too much!"
"Go on, take it!" Lisia gently shoved the box into her arms. "A good friend of mine has an outfit just like that, you won't be accused of copying me." Lisia gave an assuring smile which Hilda ultimately returned as she took hold of the box.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Lisia gave her shoulder a light pat. "I've got to go back and help my uncle clean things up but I wish you luck on whatever you're doing here. See you later!"
"Bye!" Hilda waved after her friend as she walked through the doors. The doors then opened back up later as Ash and Cilan stepped into the building. "How did it go?" Hilda immediately asked but the smile on Ash's face made the outcome rather obvious.
"We won!"
"And Pansage evolved," Cilan tossed the ball into the air, allowing the newly evolved grass monkey to show off to his friends.
"Simisage!" The monkey screeched out.
"That's great!" Hilda beamed. "I'm guessing you got a Leaf Stone from winning?"
"Yep! We got to pick out evolutionary items as a reward." Cilan spoke.
"I just chose something at random." Ash shrugged while withdrawing the Dusk Stone, apart from Pikachu none of his Pokémon required items to evolve so he let fate decide for him. Perhaps some use for it would arise in the future but for now it was essentially just a paper weight.
"That's nice," Hilda smiled while Cilan took notice of the box she was holding.
"What's that?" He questioned.
"This? Lisia gave it to me." Cilan uttered out a gasp.
"You met Lisia?! She's one of the world's best Coordinators!" He excitedly exclaimed causing Ash and Hilda to give him a look, wondering how he could possibly know that. "I'm a-"
"Contest Connoisseur?" Hilda questioned with a light shake of her head. "Of course you are. Her and Wallace were hosting Unova's first Pokémon Contest, where the winner would get to face Wallace in a battle."
"Aw man, I wish I was there!" Ash groaned out. "I'd have loved to battle him."
"Pika!" Pikachu snapped his fingers from frustration.
The doors opened up again roughly half an hour after Ash and Cilan returned, Zach and Skyla stepped through the doors looking winded while Skyla's hair was a bit of a mess. Hilda raised her eyebrow before giving her brother an approving nod while Cilan smirked lightly.
"Nice."
"Did you see Brock out there?" Ash questioned, oblivious to the context of what happened.
"We did, something tells me he's not coming here tonight." Zach commented while holding a plastic bag out towards Hilda. "I got you something."
Hilda rustled through the bag and withdrew what appeared to be a Rotom Phone with an Eevee case around it. Hilda gasped out while looking up at him with a questionable look. "What's this?"
"A Rotom Phone, I used my winnings to get us both one." Zach explained while flashing a basic red colored Rotom Phone. "You can use that if you get lost and contact me if you need it or just want to talk or text."
"Hold up, does that mean-" Hilda started.
"He's going back to Mistralton with me," Skyla spoke while wrapping an arm around his. "He needs some rest and more time to recover so I'm taking him home to ensure he gets plenty of both. He needs to be more levelheaded if Team Plasma comes for him, he's still super paranoid."
Lucario nodded while Zach jumped in place after a random trainer accidentally brushed against him while walking by.
"Makes sense," Hilda was sad to see him go but at least they could still talk to one another. She rushed forward to give her brother and Lucario a hug which the two returned. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, I promise I'll text you once a day."
"Call." Hilda corrected him with a light glare. "Anyone can take it and text."
"Okay okay, I'll call you and let you know I'm okay." Zach sighed out.
"Don't you worry Hilda, I'll take good care of him." Skyla smirked lightly before giving off a reassuring smile. "Nothing will happen to him this time cause I'm never leaving his side!"
"Good." Hilda gave his shoulder a pat before pulling away as Zach, Skyla and Lucario turned to take their leave. Hilda watched them leave as a wave of sadness struck her, she shook her head and forced a smile knowing he'd be alright. Team Plasma were still focused on finding the other stone and the hero to worry about him at the moment, she just hoped that they happened to figure out where it was before Team Plasma did.
Next time, Ash and the others take a backseat as N takes on the protagonist role for the chapter.